Oldham councillors have reacted to news that Chadderton is set for a £20 million investment over a 10-year period to help it regenerate and tackle anti-social behaviour.
Councillors have welcomed the funding but criticised the way it has been allocated, with no notification in advance.
On the eve of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester city centre, Rishi Sunak said 55 ‘overlooked’ towns across the country would each be allocated £20 million over a decade.
The money is set to be used on local priorities, such as reviving high streets, tackling anti-social behaviour, improving transport, boosting visitor numbers, and growing the local economy.
As part of the investment, the towns will set up a town board, bringing together community leaders, employers, local authorities and the local MP, to help deliver a plan for consultation.
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The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the town boards would be able to use a suite of regeneration powers while deploying the new funding.
Council leader says ‘devil in the detail’
Council leader Arooj Shah said: “If I’d have been briefed, or even informed about this announcement I could’ve welcomed this funding with open arms.
“As usual the devil will be in the detail, so it’ll be interesting to see what this actually means.
“The numbers being talked about here are a drop in the ocean compared to thirteen successive years of Tory cuts to local government.
“If local government hadn’t been underfunded for more than a decade maybe so many towns up and down the country wouldn’t feel overlooked.”
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Local councillor cautiously optimistic
Chadderton North’s Cllr Barbara Brownridge was more positive about the funding, which she said was ‘completely out of the blue’.
The Labour councillor said she would personally like to see the funding directed towards non-statutory services, such as protecting green spaces, libraries, youth services, and street cleaning.
Cllr Brownridge said: “Nobody in the council knew anything about it until it was announced, we’re really pleased because any funding coming into Oldham in the current climate is very, very welcome, but we are bemused about how these decisions were made, in all fairness.”
The councillor said she was pleased local people would be left to decide what to do with the money, but raised a potential problem with using the money to upgrade the town’s main precinct.
She added: “It does reference in [Sunak’s] speech about upgrading town centres. Now, we have a problem in Chadderton as the main precinct in Chadderton is privately owned.
“We’ve tried to engage with the various owners over the time, but there has been reluctance in coming in partnership with the council about doing something to upgrade it. On a personal note I’d have reservations about public money being given to a private landlord without some sort of reciprocal arrangement.”
‘Difficult to do coherent planning’
However, Cllr Brownridge was critical of the difficulties in long-term planning due to the way funding has been allocated.
It’s something Mayor Andy Burnham has also been critical of in the past, with the mayor calling for the government to move away from competitive bidding systems and towards a German-style system back in January, with legal guarantees to tackle inequalities.
Cllr Brownridge continued: “What we haven’t had is any coherent idea about funding for local authorities, and that’s the problem we have. Really we can’t do any long-term planning because we just get ‘oh, you can have a thousand here, oh you can have a million here if you bid into it and spend it in 10 minutes.
“It’s not coherent, I think that’s the problem. In a time when all councils are really, really struggling because of budget pressures following 10 years of cutting back, it’s not helpful. The money is good to have, we’re glad to have the money, but delivering it in dribs and drabs like this makes it very difficult to do coherent planning.”
Oldham not at risk of bankruptcy, for the moment
Across the nation, several councils, including Birmingham, Thurrock, Croydon, and Woking, have issued section 114 notices in recent years, effectively declaring bankruptcy – with Kent and Hampshire councils on the brink.
Cllr Brownridge said Oldham was not in immediate risk, adding: “Our finances are fine, we’ve been very prudent. Despite what some people would like to tell you, we’ve been very prudent.
“But obviously, there’s rising demand for social care and for children, partly because of an ageing population but also because of poverty and the cost of living crisis, so there are enormous pressures on budgets across the country.
“If that isn’t recognised, then I suppose ultimately every single council in the country is at risk of going bankrupt. The money that we can raise through council tax is limited because of our property base – 70 per cent being in bands A to C, but I can assure you we are not in danger of going bankrupt.
“But, if this carries on without any respite then I think every house in the country’s at risk of going bankrupt because we are all struggling.”
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